Brian Beutler

Debbie Wasserman Schultz may not want you to know about it, but there’s a Democratic presidential debate on Saturday evening, and Beutler believes that the candidates therein “would be doing the country a service by placing the right wing appeal to paranoia in its proper context—and then rejecting it forcefully.” In a Friday piece, Beutler described this week’s Republican presidential debate as…

In a Friday article, Brian Beutler expressed a combination of disgust and resignation that the ideological “absurdity” and supposedly dubious autobiographical “veracity” of Ben Carson don’t matter to conservatives. Beutler acknowledged that Carson’s poll numbers may take a hit because of the flap over the West Point “scholarship,” but wondered, “Could Carson’s supporters prove so uninterested in…

CJ Pearson, the 13-year-old conservative social-media star, could use a few good role models, suggested TNR’s Brian Beutler in a Monday article. After noting that Pearson has been “revealed as the perpetrator of a number of hoaxes,” Beutler mused that such behavior isn’t surprising given the ideological company the youngster keeps. “He's coming of age in a movement that often treats reality as…

On Monday’s Last Word, Lawrence O’Donnell started his program with a panel discussing Mike Huckabee’s controversial comments about the Iran deal. Daily Beast columnist and MSNBC contributor Jonathan Alter had harsh words for the Republicans, claiming their rhetoric is far worse when compared to the Democrats: “[T]here's a vileness gap that is developing between our political parties.” The ex-…

In the week since the Supreme Court upheld certain Obamacare subsidies, some on the left, applying the wisdom that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” have gratefully praised majority-opinion-writer John Roberts. But now liberals need to put their warm fuzzies for the chief justice behind them and guard against “complacency” regarding the court, advised Brian Beutler in a Tuesday article. “…

Krystal Ball is not too keen on Hillary Clinton's campaign shtick. In a segment discussing the former secretary of state's carefully-staged campaign swings in Iowa, The Cycle co-host and former Virginia congressional candidate confessed Hillary's campaign rollout isn't doing much for her, and, she suspects, that's probably true of how it's being received by most voters.

The title of a famous essay by Jonathan Swift and that of Tuesday's article by Brian Beutler each starts with “A Modest Proposal.” There are, however, many differences concerning the two pieces. One is that Swift’s was a satire, whereas Beutler’s is a fantasy. Another is that pretty much anyone who somehow took Swift’s proposal seriously would find it horrifying, while Beutler’s suggestion --…

Brian Beutler of The New Republic thinks no one who’s as far to the right as Ted Cruz is can be elected president, and, to support that opinion, he enlisted (or perhaps drafted) a conservative hero, albeit one who died in 1998. In a Monday article, Beutler asserted that “if Barry Goldwater were still alive, he’d be a guest on cable news somewhere warning Republicans that Ted Cruz is too…

Well before Obama moved into the White House, he believed his presidency would have “the potential for shifting the national paradigm” to the left as Reagan’s moved it to the right, and Brian Beutler contends that such a shift still could happen if “the economy’s rapid growth in recent quarters” continues.

Brian Beutler comments that “conservatives…are inherently skeptical of government interventions of any kind. Thus, Republican politicians who lean too heavily on…state action, even in the realm of something as essential to the common good as immunization, will run into problems.”

Elias Isquith contends that “after eight years of George W. Bush,” America “was in such rotten shape that Obama had little time to do more than stave off the next crisis,” but that by this past Tuesday night, favorable economic developments gave Obama “an opportunity to boast of changing the ‘trajectory’ of the country like few presidents before him and none since Ronald Reagan.”

Brian Beutler defends President Obama and Mayor de Blasio against attacks from the likes of Rudy Giuliani and contends that while “liberal political leaders in America don’t lionize fringe figures,” their conservative counterparts certainly do.

Brian Beutler says it’s likely that Republicans “understand that voting restrictions suppress the Democratic vote,” but they probably view that “as a feature rather than a bug.”

Discussing the Kentucky Senate race between Mitch McConnell (R) and Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D), All In’s Chris Hayes cheered the Democratic candidate on, despite blatant falsehoods in her political ads. While Hayes did note those errors in the segment, he brushed them aside to say that in reality those lies are the truth. The ad featured Grimes sitting next to a…